This invention relates to a pair of connectors which can be fitted together to electrically connect wire harnesses or the like together, and more particularly to connectors in which the locking thereof and the cancellation of the locking can be effected positively and easily.
Such known related connectors are disclosed in JP-A-2-65078. The connectors 50, shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, comprise the male connector 51, and the mating female connector 52. The male connector 51 comprises a male connector housing 53, and female terminals 64 each having a wire 35 connected thereto, and the female connector 52 comprises a female connector housing 54, and male terminals 63 each having a wire 35 connected thereto.
A lock lever 56 is formed on the male connector 51, and is supported in a cantilever manner through a hinge 57 provided at a fitting front end thereof. A groove 55 is formed near to a free end portion of the lock lever 56, and therefore the lock lever 56 can be moved upward and downward. A retaining projection 58 of a triangular shape is formed on an upper surface of this lock lever 56 at the support end thereof, and an operating portion 59 is formed on the upper surface of this lock lever at the free end thereof.
On the other hand, the female connector 52 includes a hood 60 having a fitting space for the male connector 51. A groove portion 61, into which the lock lever 56 can move, is formed in the hood 60, and a recess 62, in which the retaining projection 58 of the lock lever 56, is engageable, is formed at an inner end of the groove portion 61.
When the male connector 51 and the female connector 52 are fitted together, the lock lever 56 is inserted into the groove portion 61 in a downwardly-flexed condition, and when the lock lever is further inserted deeper, the retaining projection 58 becomes engaged in the recess 62. At this time, the lock lever 56 is elastically restored from the flexed condition into its original condition to be disposed in a locked condition.
Next, for canceling the locked condition, the lock lever 56 is pressed down, so that the retaining projection 58 is disengaged from the recess 62. Since the groove 55 is formed below the lock lever 56, the lock lever can be flexed. By pulling the connectors 51 and 52 relative to each other in a locking-cancelled condition, the connectors 51 and 52 can be disengaged from each other.
In the above prior technique, however, there were fears that the elastic lock lever 56, when interfered with the exterior, was damaged, and that the operating portion of the lock lever 56, when interfered with the exterior, was flexed downwardly, so that the locking was cancelled, and the male connector 51 and the female connector 52 were accidentally disengaged from each other. These occur because the lock lever 56 protrudes outwardly from the peripheral wall of the male connector 51 and because the large flexure space exists below the lock lever 56 so that the lock lever can be easily flexed upon interference with the exterior.
Similarly, the wall portion of the female connector 52, having the groove portion 61 into which the lock lever 56 can be inserted, protrudes outwardly, and there was a fear that this wall portion, when interfered with the exterior, was crushed, so that the recess 62 was deformed, and the locking could not be canceled, and the pair of connectors 50 could not be disengaged from each other.
And besides, in this kind of connectors 50, the narrow, elongate, cantilever-like lock lever 56 is integrally formed, and therefore the quality is influenced by the flowability of a molten resin, and the removal of the molded product from a mold and so on were difficult, and there were fears of variations in molding precision, the incomplete molding and so on because of the complicated structure.
Furthermore, there is a tendency for a wire harness, often installed in a narrow space within an instrument panel or the like, to be formed into a narrow design so as not to interfere with electrical equipments and the like, and therefore connectors, attached to ends of the wire harness, have also been required to have a compact design. In the related connectors 50, however, the lock structure, including the lock lever 56 and so on, protrudes outwardly from the connectors 50, and it has been difficult to meet the requirement for the compact design of the connectors.